The present invention relates to an apparatus for capturing, recording and playing input motion pictures and particularly to an apparatus for playing motion pictures from a free scene (position).
A conventional video recording/playing apparatus has such a configuration as shown in FIG. 10.
As shown in FIG. 10, the video recording/playing apparatus comprises an information processing system 21, and a video input device 22. The video input device 22 is means for inputting analog motion pictures and is carried out in a video camera, a video tape recorder (VTR), a television set, or the like. The case of a video camera is shown here as an example. The information processing system 21 is a system for recording motion pictures inputted through the video input device 22 and has a means for digitizing analog motion pictures inputted through the video input device 22, and a means for recording the motion pictures digitized by the digitizing means.
The outline of processing in the conventional video recording/playing apparatus having the configuration shown in FIG. 10 will be described below with reference to FIG. 11.
FIG. 11 is a flow chart of processing for specifying scene-changed points with respect to a series of continuous still images (motion pictures) inputted through the video input device 22, for example, for the purpose of head-review playing.
In the processing, capturing motion pictures is first started (step 501) and a one-frame""s or one-field""s analog still image inputted through the video input device 22 is digitized (step 502). The motion pictures inputted here through the video input device 22 have a standardized format such as NTSC, PAL or SECAM.
In the aforementioned processing, the digitized still image is then stored in a main storage device contained in the information processing system 21 (step 503). The still image is then compared with a still image stored just before the still image (step 504) and a judgment is made as to whether there is any scene change or not (step 505). In this occasion, the judgment as to whether there is any scene change or not is performed by comparing two still images pixel by pixel, calculating differences between pixels and calculating the sum of differences between all pixels. When, for example, the sum exceeds an arbitrary threshold, it is judged that there is some scene change.
When it is judged in the step 505 that there is some scene change, the point of time counted from the start of the capturing of motion pictures is stored in the main storage device (step 506). A judgment is then made as to whether the capture is completed or not (step 507) and, if the capture is not completed, the situation of the routine goes back to the step 502 to repeat the processing. If the capture is completed, a series of non-compressed motion pictures is stored in an auxiliary storage device contained in the information processing system 21 (step 508) and the processing is terminated.
The aforementioned conventional video recording/playing apparatus then displays a list of still images of the scene-changed positions on a display device contained in the information processing system 21, extracts the point of time stored in the main storage device in the step 506 and corresponding to an arbitrary still image designated from the displayed list by a user through an input device contained in the information processing system 21 and plays a series of motion pictures stored in the auxiliary storage device in the step 508 so that the head-review playing of the series of motion pictures is started from a still image (position) corresponding to the point of time.
A technique in which the change of a scene in motion pictures is extracted automatically so that the motion pictures inclusive of the scene-changed information are encoded, has been disclosed in JP-A-6-133305.
A technique for real-time displaying motion pictures on a display device, or the like, has been described in the magazine xe2x80x9cInterfacexe2x80x9d, April issue, pp.102-109, 1996, published by CQ Publishing Co.
In the conventional technique as shown in FIG. 10, however, there is no consideration of the quantity of data stored in the auxiliary storage device because a series of non-compressed motion pictures is captured and a scene change is detected so that the series of motion pictures is stored as non-compressed data in the auxiliary storage device.
Further, in JP-A-6-133305, there is no consideration of processing speed because the scene-changed information is included in the compressed motion pictures so that the scene-changed information must be retrieved from the motion pictures from the first to the last before playing whenever playing is tried.
Further, in the technique described in the magazine xe2x80x9cInterfacexe2x80x9d, there is no consideration of displaying of motion pictures on a display device and recording of the motion pictures in an auxiliary storage device, or the like.
An object of the present invention is to provide a video capture device for real-time and simultaneously capturing motion pictures inputted through a video input device, as non-compressed motion pictures and as motion pictures which are compressed in a relatively high compression ratio by using a compressing technique and which can be played in high picture quality, a video recording/playing apparatus having the video capture device attached thereto, and a video input device.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a video recording/playing apparatus for performing video recording/playing in which an arbitrary still image in the aforementioned non-compressed motion pictures and an arbitrary still image in the aforementioned compressed motion pictures are associated with each other on the basis of information obtained on the basis of the non-compressed motion pictures to thereby make it possible to facilitate recording/playing of the motion pictures.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a video capture device in which odd-numbered field data and even-numbered field data in an interlace signal inputted through the aforementioned video input device are converted into data of different sizes and different color formats to be transferred to a different area or a different system when the aforementioned non-compressed motion pictures are captured in the aforementioned information processing system, and a video recording/playing apparatus having the video capture device attached thereto and for performing recording/playing of motion pictures inputted through the aforementioned video input device while monitoring the motion pictures through a display device contained in the aforementioned information processing system.
A video capture device attached to a video recording/playing apparatus having a main storage device and a display device and for recording motion pictures, comprises: a video decoder for receiving analog motion pictures and digitizing the input motion pictures; a motion picture compressing portion for compressing the digitized motion pictures into compressed motion pictures; and a motion picture input interface portion for transferring the digitized motion pictures outputted from the video decoder to the main storage device and the display device and, at the same time, transferring the compressed motion pictures outputted from the motion picture compressing portion to the main storage device.
A video recording/playing apparatus provided with a main storage device and a display device and for recording motion pictures, wherein the apparatus comprises: a video decoder for receiving analog motion pictures and digitizing the input motion pictures; a motion picture compressing portion for compressing the digitized motion pictures into compressed motion pictures; and a motion picture input interface portion for transferring the digitized motion pictures outputted from the video decoder to the main storage device and the display device and, at the same time, transferring the compressed motion pictures outputted from the motion picture compressing portion to the main storage device, and wherein the motion picture input interface portion separates the digitized motion pictures into two field signals in an interlace signal so that one field signal is transferred to the main storage device and the other field signal is transferred to the display device, the display device displays motion pictures on the basis of the field signal transferred from the motion picture input interface portion, and the main storage device stores the field signal transferred from the motion picture input interface portion at the same time when the display device displays the motion pictures.
The video recording/playing apparatus further comprises a frame memory for holding at least one frame image of the motion pictures digitized by the video decoder, wherein: the motion picture input interface portion includes a video signal input/output portion for separating the input motion pictures digitized by the video decoder into odd-numbered field data and even-numbered field data and storing the odd-numbered field data and the even-numbered field data in the frame memory, a scaling portion for picking out the odd-numbered field data and the even-numbered field data successively from the frame memory and scaling the data, a color conversion portion for converting the input data given from the scaling portion into data of a predetermined color format, a compressed video input/output portion for capturing the input data from the motion picture compressing portion in accordance with a predetermined protocol, a DMA transfer control portion for transferring the data supplied from the color conversion portion and the compressed motion pictures given from the compressed video input/output portion, to the main storage device or the display device, and a bus input/output portion for making data flow in a bus generally used in an information processing system and for getting data flowing in the bus.
There is further considered a video recording/playing apparatus characterized in that the apparatus comprises an information extracting means for extracting arbitrary information from non-compressed motion pictures captured by the aforementioned video capture means, and a correspondence information generating means for associating the information extracted by the information extracting means with the compressed motion pictures captured by the video capturing means, wherein: the information extracting means has a function of extracting the point of time of an image at an arbitrary point of time elapsed from the start of the motion pictures from the series of non-compressed motion pictures captured by the non-compressed video capture device; and the correspondence information generating means has a function of extracting an image (position) at the same point of time as the point of time from the compressed motion pictures captured by the compressed video capture device and associating the image (position) in the compressed motion pictures with the image in non-compressed motion pictures.
There is also considered the video recording/playing apparatus characterized in that the apparatus further comprises an input device for performing a user""s instruction, and a compressed video playing device for playing the compressed motion pictures, wherein the compressed video playing device has a function of head-review playing of the compressed motion pictures from the associated image or the neighborhood thereof on the basis of the instruction inputted by the input means.
It is further considered a configuration in which the video capture device and the compressed video playing device are combined.
The video recording/playing apparatus according to the present invention carries out the following operation.
With some instruction inputted by the user through the input means as a turning point, the video capture device digitizes motion pictures inputted through the video input device and captures the digitized motion pictures directly as non-compressed motion pictures on one hand and the video capture device digitizes motion pictures inputted through the video input device, converts the digitized motion pictures into compressed motion pictures which is in a high compression ratio and which can be reproduced in a high picture quality, and captures the compressed motion pictures on the other hand. In this occasion, the two kinds of motion pictures are generated from one and the same video source and captured in real time and simultaneously.
When, for example, a scene change is to be detected, the information extracting means extracts at least an image just after the scene change obtained by analysis of the non-compressed motion pictures and a point of time of the image counted from the start of the capture of the motion pictures and the correspondence information generating means extracts at least an image (position) at the same point of time as the above-mentioned point of time from the compressed motion pictures captured by the video capture device and generates correspondence information for associating the two kinds of motion pictures with each other.
Furthermore, because the non-compressed motion pictures are separated into odd-numbered field data and even-numbered field data to be transferred alternatively to the main storage device and the display device, scene changes can be detected while motion pictures inputted through the video input device are monitored on the display device.
Furthermore, when at least an image just after the scene change is displayed on the display device and designated through the input means by the user, the compressed video playing device specifies the image from which the head-review playing of the compressed motion pictures will be started, and performs the playing.